Death's Grip: Chapter 19
After an hour of traveling Jack arrived at the border between the federation and humanity. The Black Heart was beating stronger and he could tell that he was getting closer but it was pulling him towards the direction of the parasite and federation border.
Jack remembered hearing something about the Arden fortress falling from some gossip around Haramark. He was wary because he expected a commander to be in there so it was going to be quite the difficult fight if there indeed was one. But he hoped that there wouldn't and if there was they wouldn't notice him sneaking in. He then sent out some shadows to scout out the border and see if there was any danger which they returned with little to nothing. It seemed that the federation did not bother with humanity although they were still caught and enslaved. Jack forgot about it and moved in towards the forest that was past the field.
Jack had walked through the forest and encountered a few beastmen but he simply knocked them out and continued towards where the heart was pulling him.
Eventually one of the beast men that had spotted him had managed to escape and warn others about him. He had to knock out more beastmen since there were now large groups searching for him. Jack didn't want to kill any of them since that would make it seem more like he was invading their territory and it would put a large target on his back. So He just knocked them unconscious to be safe. Jack eventually was met with a large group and there were some creatures with wings in the back and quite the number of beastmen. Jack just stared at the person in the back because he saw that she had black wings. Jack was curious who it was since he had never seen nor heard of people with wings.
The person in the back muttered something to a woman with a blindfold next to them. The beastmen then began rushing towards him but he just summoned his shadows and they treated the beastmen to a tasty knuckle sandwich. Soon there were around 50-60 beastmen unconscious on the ground and the person with the wings still had not made a move.
Jack "I am only here to get something not to hurt you all."
Winged person "What is your name?"
Jack "I wish not to give out that info."
Gabriel "My name is Gabriel, might I ask what and where is the item you are retrieving?"
Jack "it is that direction and I do not know what it is."
He pointed in the direction where the heart was pulling him and when Gabriel saw it she was internally shocked. It was where the husk of the world tree was at, in Arden Fortress.
Gabriel "Then we will not bother you as long as you do not cause any harm to us, and thank you for freeing those who were captured."
Jack just nodded then continued on his way with Gabriel staring at him the entire time wondering who the man was.
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After around 2 days of walking through the forest Jack soon arrived at the Parasites territory He set up a camp a little ways away and rested so that he would be ready for what was coming.
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Back at Haramark Seol was preparing to head to Huge Stone Rocky Mountain so that he could train with Jang Maldong who was the previous leader of Carpe Diem. Ever since he saw the scene of a massacre in Delphinion Duchy he knew that he was much too weak. He would not have been able to do all that so when he heard that it potentially could have been someone that was in the same tutorial as him he knew he needed to get stronger.
Teresa Hussey had also come to him and asked if he knew who had saved her but Seol truly had no Idea but he told her that it potentially could have been Jack who had previously left the meeting where they were discussing the plan. No one knew his whereabouts when the operation had occurred but from what they had heard from Hugo and others the person who did it had summons similar to Jack.
Teresa only thanked him then walked off with a smile on her face as if she had found what she was looking for.
Jang Maldong had also asked him what Jack was like when they were in the Neutral zone but Seol did not interact with him much so he could only say that Jack worked alone. Jang Maldong nodded and left with a thoughtful expression. From what Seol could recall Jack had only ever worked alone and he had also completed the Impossible level mission solo. He was quite mysterious since he was also incredibly strong for someone who was only level one and had seemingly never entered a temple before.
This made Seol worried since Jack could potentially turn into someone like the person Sung Shihyun that he heard about previously. Jack always worked alone so he had no one to keep him anc
hored and make sure he did not defect to the parasites. Seol figured that people who worked alone were more prone to defecting due to that reason so he was concerned that the Parasite queen might gain more power through Jack, but he shook it out of his mind and began getting ready with even more vigor knowing the road ahead of him would be even more rocky than before.
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Teresa was currently speaking with someone from an information guild about Jack. She wanted to know everything about him but the info guild could not dig up anything about him. It was almost as if he was a ghost. Someone who would come and go as he pleased. She wanted to thank him for saving her but she could not find him anywhere. He had seemingly disappeared after the meeting that the earthlings had to discuss saving her and the others. Luckily Jack had killed all the parasites and that allowed them to get out with no casualties beside the people who had already been killed or infected. She did not know how he did it but the mysteriousness made her want to find out more about him. She was obsessed although she didn't realize it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a communication crystal ringing in her ear. The person on the other side said that The federation was making a move for Arden fortress again. Ever since it fell they were much weaker due to losing the world tree but they still continued fighting but she knew that their efforts were most likely futile against the parasite commander stationed there.
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Jack stood up in the morning with a cup of coffee in his hand watching the sun rise. He squinted his eyes watching it then looked down at where the Balck Heart was beating wildly. It was going crazy as if it was going to explode if he did not go now.
Jack "Don't worry i'm on the way."
He began to head towards the giant tree in the distance. The Heart was anxious.